Joe Brooks Debuts 'Superman' in New York

When Joe Brooks headed to New York last month to promote his latest single, 'Superman,' he got to hang out with the PopEater crew and play a handful of his pop-rock tunes. But Brooks also got a couple of surprises along the way. The English singer-songwriter met two musicians who he looks up to when he appeared at Bamboozle festival: Hayley Williams and Zac Hanson.

"She was gorgeous and we just mobbed her," Brooks gushed to PopEater, re-telling the story of his run-in with the Paramore frontwoman. To his delight, Williams seemed to be familiar with who he was and agreed to take a photo. Brooks also grabbed a snapshot with Hanson's drummer at the festival. "Their harmonies are money," he said of the trio.

While he was in the area, Brooks had the opportunity to play his own show at New York's Studio at Webster Hall. Before his concert, PopEater's staff was treated to their own private performance of the songs 'Kaleidoscope,' 'World at Our Feet' and, of course, 'Superman.'

"It's been a long time since I first wrote that song," Brooks said of 'Superman.' "I was 16, and it'd just been one of those ones that stuck with me, you know? Now, we've been able to create what I've always envisioned for the track."

Brooks -- influenced by the likes of John Mayer, Jason Mraz, James Taylor and Ray Charles, who he calls "my biggest idol of all time" -- took up music after devoting most of his childhood to sports. "I got to the stage where I needed something else," Brooks, now 23, explained. "I went to a local venue with my mom and watched a blues roots guitarist, an Australian blues roots guitarist, which is kind of the reason why I got into the music in the first place -- blues and funk and jazz. From that point on, I went home and picked up a classical guitar that had three strings that my mom had had since she was a child."

The guitar came first for the new musician, who didn't realize his own soulful voice was such a gem until much later on. "Ever since, it's been an absolute passion and I can't stop being involved [with music] every day, every minute of every day," he said.

Soon after, Brooks recorded his own EP, 'Maybe Tomorrow,' and gained enough fans on the Internet to become the No. 1 unsigned UK artist on MySpace for nearly two years, and sell out two tours in the UK.

Brooks' new album is due out in the States this summer on Lava Records. In the meantime, look for 'Superman' on iTunes and check out some photos from his PopEater visit below.